Running Shoes, Bail Bonds and Firecracker Press

1. My Running Shoes Loves My Feets

I just got some new running shoes! Finally. I am at least six months overdue and my feet thank me. We also had a break in the humidity the last few days, so Xina and I had a fantastic run (for me anyway). We did just under 5 miles in 45 minutes, which for me is super great. I’m generally a three to four mile runner, so anything over four miles to me is great, and I was even able to finish the run at a nice, not-quite-sprint speed which felt really good. I give the credit to the shoes and the weather, but hopefully I’ll be able to at least complete the same long run once or twice a week. I feel much stronger than when I arrived (and I think running in the insane heat and humidity has made my body stronger too). The other running news is that Xina is going to sign us both up for a Race (capital R) next month. It’s a 5k, so a perfect distance for me, but I’ve never competed, so I’m betting I run really hard the first mile then collapse. I’m going to make sure that Xina trains me a little between now and then.

2. On Making New Friends

We are in a new city, we don’t know many people yet, and frankly we are starving for friendship. Xina and I have spent a lot of time together, but we are looking for new people to hang out with. Last weekend we met some great people at the Open Studios and we are determined to keep the ball rolling. While we both do pretty well in social situations with strangers, we are not accustomed to simply walking up to people and making friends. We have made a pact to be open to everyone we talk to (and this being the midwest, that has proved to be much easier than it would be in New York).

We headed over to Benton Park on Saturday night to the Venice Cafe which is another art-installation-as-entertainment venue and is super cool. The entire structure is a 20-30 year long sculpture project made up of found objects, recovered architectural accents and columns and amazine tilework. We spent some time talking to the owner and I tried my first Stag Beer (for $1.50, can’t go wrong) Then the somewhat rowdy group people at the table next to us invited us over to their table to hang out. Turns out they are from St. Charles, and they had lots of advice about St. Louis for us, such as which airshows to go see, etc. One guy talked my ear off with all sorts of outlandish stories he’d heard about driving big rigs through New York. They were super friendly, and the woman who invited us over to the table in the first place gave us her card when we left and told us we should all hang out and have a barbecue. Turns out she is bail bonds woman who’s business card asks “Got Your Booty Locked Up?” Would we go to a barbecue hosted by this woman? You betcha.

3. Lumberyard Release Party: Firecracker Press

After our evening at the Venice, we headed over to the release party for the Lumberyard, a poetry and design magazine printed by Firecracker Press. Firecracker does some amazing design work and printing – it’s a great shop with a lot of great work. We spent a few minutes talking with Eric the owner who is a really cool dude. I’m thinking my next set of business cards should be letter press.

We picked up a copy of the magazine which is rockin as well as this kickass print. Very very cool.